Sacramento County Biographies

JAMES POPERT

Transcribed by: Marla Fitzsimmons 

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

	Merchant, corner of Twenty-first and H streets, Sacramento, is a 
native of Hamburg, Germany, born March 17, 1839, his parents being Martin H. and 
Hannah (Tentler) Popert, the father a manufacturer of cigars and tobacco. He was 
reared and educated at his native place, and commenced the trade of 
cabinet-maker, at which he served a couple of years. In 1858 he went to sea as a 
carpenter, and followed that occupation for eight years, in the trade between 
Hamburg, South America, East Indies, Calcutta, etc. In 1867 he sailed from New 
York to San Francisco on the ship Nightingale, Captain Sparrow, landing in the 
latter part of March. He came to Sacramento and, going to an employment office, 
applied for work. He soon found work as a carpenter, and afterward followed 
contracting and building until 1878, when he engaged in mercantile business on 
the corner of Fourth and P streets, succeeding Charles Chambers at that 
location. He commenced there on the 1st of September, and two years later built 
and commenced business where he now is. He enjoys an extensive trade, which is 
constantly increasing. Mr. Popert was married in Sacramento on the 14th of 
August, 1870, to Miss Margaret Heisch, whose brothers keep the Pioneer Coffee 
Mills. She died in this city. Mr.  Popert�s present wife, to whom he married 
November 4, 1875, was formerly Miss Georgina Hoff, a native of Pennsylvania. 
They have four children, viz.: William, Gertie, James and George. Mr. Popert is 
a member of Capital Lodge, No. 87, I. O . O. F.; of Occidental Encampment and 
Uniform Rank, of Union Lodge, No. 21, A. O. U. W., and of Cosumnes Tribe of Red 
Men, in which he has passed the chairs. He was one of the originators and for a 
while the chairman of the building committee of the German Lutheran Church, and 
is now trustee.       

An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. By Hon. Win. J. Davis. 
Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 329-330.


        The development of Sacramento is due to a small degree to the
efforts of Mr. Popert, whose energy, judgment and ability have been devoted
to the enlargement of its resources from the earliest period of his
residence here to the present time. Opening a retail grocery on the corner
of Fourth and P streets as early as 1878, he carried on a flourishing
business for two years, when, being obliged to seek larger quarters, he
removed to the corner of Twenty-first and H streets, erecting his present
building in 1880, his building being the only one in that section of the
city, which was then undeveloped. During the quarter century that he has
been established in this location he has become well and favorably known to
the citizens of Sacramento, who appreciate the honesty and square dealing
which they receive at his hands, and as a result Mr. Popert has not only
gained a host of friends, but is enjoying a business prosperity which his
many years of effort richly deserve.

        Mr. Popert is of German birth, his earliest recollections taking him
back to Hamburg, where his birth occurred March 17, 1839. From the age of
seven until fourteen his boyhood was spent in the public schools of that
city, but at the latter age, as is the custom in Germany, he was apprenticed
to a trade to fit him for his life work. Choosing the cabinet-maker's trade
as the line best suited to his tastes and inclinations, he served the
required four years in learning its details, after which he followed the
trade on land for one year, and for ten years was on ship carpentry. At the
age of thirty years he set out for America, and in March, 1869, arrived in
Sacramento, a city which has since felt the force of his progressive spirit
and upright business methods. Being a good workman and one who thoroughly
understood his calling he had no difficulty in finding employment at once,
and for two years was employed on the state capitol, which was then in
course of erection. Continuing to follow the trade to which he had given so
many years until 1878, he then relinquished it to engage in the grocery
business, a change which he has had no cause to regret, for success has
attended his efforts from the beginning, and he has the satisfaction of
knowing that his enterprise takes rank with the first-class business houses
in Sacramento.

          In 1875 Mr. Popert was united in marriage with Miss Grace Hopf, a
native of Philadelphia, where her girlhood days were spent. Her early
education was received in the schools of the latter city, and she afterward
took a higher course in a school in Jersey City, N. J. Mrs. Popert is a
woman possessed of many accomplishments, presiding over her household with
dignity and thorough capability. Three children have blessed this happy
union, all of whom are sons. William, the eldest, a graduate of the
Sacramento high school and also of the State University, has for the past
three years been in the employ of the American Bridge Company, having
advanced in the meantime from a humble position until today he is one of the
company's most trusted employees. The other sons, James and George, are
still students in the high school. Politically Mr. Popert is a stanch
Republican, upon the ticket of which party he was elected, in November 1903,
as trustee from the eighth ward, his term expiring in 1907. He has served as
chairman of various important committees. His fraternal associations bring
him in contact with the Odd Fellows, holding membership in Capitol Lodge No.
88, I. O. O. F., at present filling the position of president of the Veteran
Odd Fellows Association; and is also a member of the Encampment and
Patriarch Militant in Odd Fellowship. He is also identified with the Ancient
Order of United Workmen, in which he has served twice as grand master, as
well as on the board of arbitration, and the Red Men. For thirty-five years
he has been a member, an active worker, and an elder of the German Lutheran
church.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Page 953.

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, July 2009.